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Find One, Find All® (FOFA®) Locator

There I go! Can't find my keys again. Just when I think I'm ready to hop in the car for another day's commute, my car keys, mobile phone, wallet, purse, reading glasses, and/or sunglasses can't be found. Whoops, where did I leave my coffee thermos?

The disappearing act those slylies pull every day has been a source of needless frustration in my life, and I finally decided I had to stop them. I checked into several locating devices and found two locators I'd like to share with you, as each has appealing but different features for different needs... the FOFA® and the Loc8tor.

The FOFA

All of us are victims of the "Stuff Gremlin," as the Find One, Find All® (FOFA®) company calls the little twit that steals our stuff. One of the FOFA founders, who can't be more than 45 right now, says he's been a victim of the stuff gremlin for 40 years... poor guy. What he and his wife did was develop the FOFA locator and his gremlin went away.

The FOFA locator is a battery-operated two-way sound system, a transmitter and receiver. Like a walkie-talkie, at least two devices are required to operate FOFA; one searching and the other responding with a sound that gets louder the closer you get to it. Either device can search for the other. If, for example, you have your keys and your wallet tagged with a FOFA device, you can use either one to find the other.

As one system can accommodate up to six FOFA's, you can locate five missing items with FOFA tags as long as you have the sixth, regardless of which FOFA you have in your hot little hands. A set of two FOFA's is $24.95. Additional FOFA's are $12.47 each. For those whose gremlins have multiplied, six FOFA systems in any one environment will find a total of 36 of your hardest to find stuff.

You owe yourself a trip to the FOFA site to check out this locator; besides, its animated gremlin ad is precious.

The LOC8TOR

The Loc8tor

Now if you're after something more sophisticated tech-wise, and you really do need to find your cat, then you may just be interested in the Loc8tor, a nifty handheld location device which can find up to 24 tagged items, up to 600 feet away. This device uses radio frequency emissions to track your tagged items or animals, and it provides both sound and directional cues on its LED screen. The tagged items respond with sound and flashing lights when their cues are received; the louder and brighter the signals, the closer you are to the tagged item. The Loc8tor basic package, including the hand device and two "homing" tags is $99, but several options are available to enhance the package. One such option is the Loc8tor Panic Button (2@$50), which, as its name implies, should make those with children and other dependents in their household really think about purchasing it.

The Loc8tor device won one of the prestigious Time Best Invention Awards in 2006, among other impressive tech awards.

And, just so you know I'm not exaggerating about finding the cat, there are a few demonstrations of the Loc8tor on YouTube. At least two of them successfully testing the Loc8tor to find cats; one, a black cat at night!

Keeping you posted...

Boomer Babe
Featured Writer
InventorSpot.com